Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

#240: Tips for Deeper Sleep & Better HRV with OURA Ring CEO Harpreet Rai

by Mike Mutzel

4 comments

 

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About  Harpreet Rai

Harpreet Singh Rai is the CEO of ouraring.com, a the Finnish health technology and creator of the world's first wellness ring and app that shows how your body responds to your lifestyle by analyzing your sleep, activity levels, daily rhythms and the physiological responses in your body. Personalized for you, Oura guides you towards better sleep, recovery and readiness to perform. Oura has users in over 60 countries, and several top universities, research organizations, sleep clinics, and companies are utilizing the data and insights Oura provides.

Sponsored Message: Save $50 on a new generation 2 OURA ring, use promo code HIH at checkout

These health-tracker rings have been popular, get yours before they go out-of-stock: ouraring.com

Links, Books and Resources we Discussion

Myo Relax & Calm | Contains myo-Inositol, L-Theanine, Magnesium & GABA | Supports Sleep, Neurotransmitter & Hormone Support

Principles: Life and Work

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

 

Additional Links We Discussed

Dan PardiVacation Data

Show Notes

04:57 The OURA ring tracks your sleep and heartrate variability, as well as activity levels.

05:23 Tracking and measuring sleep has performance predictive capabilities. The better rest you get, the better you will recover and the more capacity you have in your workout.

06:17 Elite trainers and athletes are basing intensity of workouts upon the quality of sleep and HRV.Recovery is a leading indicator of performance.

10:12 HRV is the variation of each heartbeat. It is a stress indicator, local or chronic.

11:01 OURA measures every heartbeat throughout the night. This detailed data is shared with researchers.

12:45 Wrist strap trackers have accuracy issues. The signal from your vein is 1/100th the strength of the arterial pulse of your finger.

14:42 About ½ of your growth hormone and the majority of your testosterone is released in deep sleep. It is the stage where most of your muscle repair occurs.

15:16 During deep sleep, your brain cleans itself of toxins and beta amyloid when you sleep via the glymphatic system. Many users found that deep sleep improved with the use of blue light blockers and meal timing.

17:44 Deep sleep and REM sleep decline with age.Babies get about 6 hours of REM sleep.

18:27 Most OURA users over the age of 40 get less than an hour of deep sleep, which is about average. More than 30 minutes seems to be a healthy amount.

20:00 With chronic disease, sleep stages are altered.

21:21 REM sleep is where much of your memory recall and consolidation occurs.

22:00 Your frontal cortex shuts off during REM sleep, which is why your brain explores during sleep. It is the original psychedelic.

30:00 Sleep is the foundation of your mind and your body, making it well worth the cost of the ring.

33:23 Sleep quality impacts blood sugar regulation and cascading metabolic pathways.

38:46 Meal timing impacts sleep. Eating a large meal before bed disturbs sleep and HRV.

39:30 Waking up consistency impacts sleep. Morning light exposure starts the hormonal clock. Preventing light exposure at night improves sleep. Cooler ambient temperature during sleep improves deep sleep.

42:51 OURA ring has an airplane mode. It can stay unsynced for 6 weeks and still store all the data. The ring uses infrared light. Infrared light is beneficial for your body, while green light can disturb your sleep.

44:29 The energy output of the OURA ring is tiny.

47:46 Gen 2 ring is lower profile and made of titanium, so it is lighter than Gen 1.

50:52 The OURA ring is waterproof to 150 meters. It should be fine in the sauna and cold plunge pool.

52:23 HRV tanks after a TBI. Poor HRV can be a leading indicator for stroke and heart attack.

57:32 Ray Dalio, author of Principles inspires Harpreet, as well as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

01:00:13 One third of our population gets less than 6 hours of sleep at night.There is a great correlation between grades in college and the amount of sleep one gets.

01:05:04 Enter HIH promo code and save $50 on an OURA ring.

  1. Hi. I have a functional medicine practice and have recommended the Oura ring to my patients occasionally. I have one myself and love it, yet, I’m not sure how to use the data and apply support properly to handle problems with waking, deep sleep, etc. Do you have a resource or reference that would be helpful in this area? I’d really appreciate it! I’ve listened to your podcast for years and really appreciate your style and information delivery. It’s difficult to keep up with the information overload in FM in general, and the concise conversations make it easier.

    So – thank you :).

  2. Hi! I’m an avid listener to your podcast. Love it!! Just listened to the Oura ring talk. I’m 49, female, family of 6, studying at FMCA (functional Med coaching academy), working at setting up my coaching biz, exercise, eat ketogentically, drinking pure water, doing “it” all right (to my best ability given life’s stresses), BUT, waking up at 1-2am, to a crazy monkey mind full of worries, fears, anxieties. I pray. I meditate. But I’m wide awake so I get up. Sometimes until 4-5am. I know part of what I’m experiencing is my brain detoxing, but I’m awake for it! Probably somewhat hormonal. But it’s like a vicious machine. My blood sugar has gone way up and my ketones have gone way down. I’m eating exactly right, doing all the right things to settle down for bed, but now there’s almost a fear when I head to bed, “will i make it thru the night tonight?” Melatonin sometimes helps. I’m looking at getting your product too. What I’m wondering is: will an Oura ring help me figure out what’s going on? Can it help me to actually sleep better or longer? Secondly, I wondered, when you’re not sleeping well, does that kick you out of ketosis? Drives up blood sugar?
    Thank you for taking the time. I know your team is very busy. Again, loving the podcast. Learn SO much! You ask great questions & have cutting edge people on whose focuses are beautifully dove-tailing the material I’m learning at FMCA (which is IFM affiliated). Thank you again!

  3. Hi Mike, with regards to HRV, I wonder if practicing “coherence” as taught through heart math is key to HRV. Do you still find heart math useful? Does the Oura ring address coherence?

    Thanks,

    Rachel

  4. Thank you for this episode. I ordered my Oura ring and I can’t want to get it! If it works well for me I will be recommending it to my clients.

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